Needham Open Studios a success

Needham enjoyed its ninth annual Open Studios weekend, with more visitors than ever perusing the art and lives of local artists.

Julie Masis

Hoffart was one of more than 30 Needham artists who opened their homes to visitors as part of the ninth annual Needham Open Studios weekend.

In the studio where she works, Hoffart pointed out the tree that grows just outside the window. She painted it when it was still small, and now the tree is so tall that you cannot see where it ends when you look at it from inside the house.

In one image, Hoffart painted herself on a bicycle in a pink dress standing next to her brother. They are in front of their grandmother’s house, dressed in outfits from the 1930s. A very tall, powerful woman stands in front of them, but her face has no features.

On another picture, Hoffart’s whole family is sitting around the table in the yard next to a house: her parents, grandparents and other relatives who are now deceased. Hoffart’s granddaughter calls the people in this image “the ghosts.”

Hoffart describes her work as “sort of mysterious, magical and haunting,” but she doesn’t like to think of it as sad.

She paints from old family photographs, such as the large image that hangs at the entrance to her house: her mother and her mother’s cousin when they were college students in 1920s Nebraska.

“I don’t think of it as being sad, but maybe other people do,” she said. “They always seem to come out that way.”

About 50 people looked around Hoffart’s house last weekend, and some went home carrying some of her paintings with them. But it wasn’t all about making a sale.

“What’s kind of fun about this is seeing people who come in, what they are attracted to,” Hoffart said.

Nan Daly, another former teacher turned visual artist, said she had a very successful Open Studio.

“It’s nice to show your work, it’s nice to show your work to people who live in Needham,” she said. “It’s nice for neighbors to stop in. It’s nice for people to know how many artists there are in Needham.”

Daly’s work ranged from abstract watercolors and collages to beautiful postcards with poppies, roses and birds.

Meanwhile, painter Barbara Anthonson-Cowan, 55, who finds her inspiration in the lush greenery of Caribbean banana trees and blue beaches, said the Open Studios gives her a confidence boost.

“I sold to complete strangers today,” she said. “When you sell to complete strangers, it makes you think maybe your work is OK.”

Abbi Canney, who organized Needham Open Studios in the past, said more artists participated this year than ever before.

“There were a lot of people who came all day long,” Canney said. “It was very busy. It’s reached a point where people are aware of it a little bit better.”